In the midst of his ninth pre-season, West Coast leader Liam Duggan says he hasn’t seen the playing group return to training with as much energy and enthusiasm as this summer.

Moving on from a tough campaign ravaged by injury and illness, the Eagles got to work during their off-season breaks and have been flying around the training track at Mineral Resources Park.

Duggan, who is among core of younger leaders driving the standards, has been particularly impressed by some emerging midfielders who have come back in outstanding shape.

“It’s a long list this year, which is great. This is my ninth pre-season now and I don’t think I’ve seen the boys come back with this much energy around their off-season and coming into the start of pre-season,” Duggan told 6PR.

“Jai Culley has really stood out. For a big frame he’s moving around the ground really well. Greg Clark, Connor West, Jamie Cripps – an old head – he’s flying.

“And a couple of boys who missed out last year in Tom Cole, Dom Sheed and Oscar Allen, those boys are really humming along.

The Eagles have been covering plenty of kilometres on the track

“I think last year was taken pretty personally by everyone, to be honest.

“It’s given us great enthusiasm to bounce back from where we were last year. We don’t want to hang around down the bottom, so I think that’s the approach the boys have taken through our off-season.”

On a personal level, Duggan has been training strongly and building on a season of growth when he had to help lead the group while working through his own issues with his body. 

Amid an availability crisis, the 26-year-old was thrown into the mix to play in round two last season coming off a PCL reconstruction and restricted pre-season, forcing him to find his groove on the fly in the heat of AFL battle.

Duggan's cool head, commitment and toughness were on full display as he helped West Coast navigate unprecedented challenges, and he ultimately finished top-five in the Club Champion voting for the second time in his career. 

Liam Duggan in action

Last season only underlined Duggan's leadership qualities although, with typical humility, he is grateful for the example set for him since he arrived at the club in 2014.

“That’s the great thing about our club, we’ve still got some great leaders around – Shannon Hurn, Nic Nat (Naitanui), they’re all there, Jeremy McGovern – so we’re still continuing to learn,” Duggan said.

“It’s been a great journey really entering into that leadership group and developing under those blokes.

“I’ve been pretty spoiled to learn under those boys, but I think we’re certainly in pretty good shape with who we’ve got coming through.

“You can probably add Dom Sheed and Tom Cole and blokes like that who have been around for a while who have really taken ownership of what we’re doing at the moment.”